Wednesday, February 27, 2008

This caught my eye because it's a nice combination of three things I like: murals, ads faded on the side of brick buildings, and graffiti. Unfortunately, the graffiti isn't really inspiring, but what can I do?

The quote on the mural reads "Indication of harm, not proof of harm, is our call to action" and is a quote from Rachel Carson. To the left of the center you can see a sign saying "Rachel Carson was right". I had no idea who Rachel Carson was when I saw this, so I had to come home and do my research...which I will now share with you fine folks.

Rachel Carson was born in 1907 in Pennsylvania and studied marine biology (including a stint here in MA at Woods Hole). She wrote articles on conservation and conducted research for the government, and in her free time she took her government research and "turned it into prose", producing first articles and then books. I found this quote on the website, and I think it sums up her writings nicely: "Embedded within all of Carson's writing was the view that human beings were but one part of nature distinguished primarily by their power to alter it, in some cases irreversibly."

During WWII she started to warn about the misuse of pesticides in her writing, and called for a change in how humankind viewed the natural world. She was challenged by many - including the government and the chemical industry - but continued to speak up about issues of human health and the environment until she died after a long battle with breast cancer.

It's not surprising that you'll find a mural dedicated to an ecologist in Cambridge - Cambridge is a very eco-conscious city and frequently seems to be a step ahead of Boston in that department.

Monday, February 25, 2008

This is still Harvard Square (just next to the theater on Church St I showed you a few days back), and there is nothing particularly special about it except that I liked the layers and the angles created by the different buildings. And the sky was a beautiful blue. This was in between some pretty fierce snow squalls, one of which produced this picture as I crossed the Charles. That story goes like this, and it's all about you, my dear BDP readers...

I went to Harvard Square to take photos of the Lion Dance that was happening as part of the very small Harvard Square Chinese New Year celebrations. Even though they were forcasting snow in the afternoon, I left my house in not my warmest but definitely my cutest hat and scarf and jacket, because the weather looked great out my window! Over the course of the 1.5-2 hours I spent in Harvard Square, there was one sudden and short downpour of rain and two snow squalls. Anyway, it was under beautiful skies like this when I decided I would just walk down Mass Ave through Central and catch the T at Kendall/MIT to catch the T home. I mean, come on! Do you KNOW how many potential Boston Daily Photos are along Mass Ave between Harvard Square and Kendall/MIT?! (I told you it's all about you guys!) You don't know? There are lots. L-O-T-S, people!

So anyway, I walked along Mass Ave and realized that I don't have any idea where the Kendall/MIT stop is, and it certainly isn't on Mass Ave...so I ended up crossing the bridge into Back Bay so that I could hop on the T at Hynes. And then there I was, in the middle of a bridge over the Charles in the middle of a very crazy snow squall, fighting to stand upright and praying I wouldn't lose an ear/finger/limb to severe wind induced frostbite while I took a photo. Because I, dear readers, would do THAT for YOU.

Anyway, the moral of this story is to not dress cute when you should dress warm, and to pay attention to the weather forecast before you leave the house for a photo taking adventure. Also, maybe to actually know where the T stop you're supposedly walking to is located. ;)

Sunday, February 24, 2008

The Brattle is the other theater in Harvard Square - tucked away in the basement at 40 Brattle Street. The Brattle is a pretty unique theater, and I'll grab a quote from their own site to give you an idea of what you can see there...

The Brattle shows the best in classic, cutting-edge, foreign, and art-house films. We also show first-run films and new releases of classic films, but our specialty is a repertory programming format consisting of films from a particular director, genre, or subject shown over the course of a week, or on the same weekday throughout the month.

Beantown Today mentioned that they had seen a Felix The Cat marathon there, and events like that are always what comes to mind when I think of The Brattle - in fact, they are extending the Bugs Bunny Film Festival (an annual event since 1995) to run tomorrow night!

In the past few years The Brattle had been in danger of losing their lease, and with the creation of the Brattle Film Foundation and the massive support of the community, The Brattle was saved and we can continue stopping in to check out their awesome repertory film series'. Personally, I'm psyched for The 80s Rock! series coming up in March. Who's up for Desperately Seeking Susan??

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Hey! It's a theater! The Harvard Square theater is located on Church St and has 5 screens. I love the mural outside the theater, which extends above the marquee, but the best parts are down the bottom here (click to enlarge!). The theater shows first run movies, but more importantly, they show Rocky Horror Picture Show every Saturday at midnight, with live accompaniment. Go in costume, have a blast.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Ever since that first post at Quincy DP about pay phones, I can't stop noticing them everywhere I go! This was the third person I saw using one of these phones in the three-ish hours I was in Harvard Square! The first time I thought about taking a picture, but passed. The second time I laughed and grabbed for my camera, but something else caught my eye. When I turned around and someone else was using a phone - how could I pass it up this time!?

This line of phones is in the pit, and you can see the super awesome news stand I was talking about yesterday in the background.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Harvard Square is on the Red Line, and there are two entrances/exits to the station. This is the main entrance to the station - in "the pit" which lies between where Mass Ave turns and Brattle St. Cardullo's that we showed you a few days ago is straight in front of you and across the street when you come up from this entrance. There's a HUGE newsstand in the pit, with a really great selection of international newspaper and magazines.

Also right near the pit is what I like to call "bank wars" - the Bank of America just across the street has two giant ATM vestibules, each with about eight ATMs. Not to be out done, Citizens Bank is just across the street and has a giant ATM bank with at least a dozen ATMs. It's insanity. Perhaps more insane, however, is that I've often had to wait to use an ATM on a weekend night!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

This one is really for my Dad - for all the years of "torturing" us with NPR and Car Talk on road trips!

We're still in Harvard Square - this one is the building in the corner/triangle of Mass Ave, JFK, and Brattle Streets. Click the photo to enlarge and check out the lettering in the window. Fans of NPR's Car Talk ought to know exactly what they're looking at here...especially knowing that the photo was taking in Cambridge (our fair city) MA!

For anyone who doesn't listen to Click and Clack - Dewey, Cheetham, & Howe is an often used fictional law firm - seen in the Three Stooges, and used by comedians Groucho Marx, Johnny Carson, and even Daffy Duck. The brothers that are Click & Clack (Tom & Ray Magliozzi) created a company to cover the business end of Car Talk, and named it Dewey, Cheetham & Howe...and this is the window of their offices! For more Car Talk fun, check out their weekly "credits" here - and be sure to read the names out loud.

Monday, February 18, 2008

This looks familiar because you saw it in Good Will Hunting - in the scene where Will is explain to Skylar that he can "see" math problems the way that Beethoven can "see" the music. Just to the right of this is where there are a handful of chess tables that are constantly occupied when the weather is warm. (I was there on a cold day with intermittent snow squalls, so no outside diners!)

Unfortunately, sitting at these tables does not allow you to "see" the solutions to complicated math problems like Will Hunting. I know because I've tried. ;) You can, however, "see" some delicious pumpkin soup at Au Bon Pain every fall!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

The garage has nothing to do with cars anymore. It's a building with a small food court, half a dozen stores, and a tattoo parlor, which USED to be a parking garage. The ramp is still intact, and is central to the building, with the shops on different levels off the sides of it. In high school, The garage was the very cool destination in Harvard Square. There is a Newbury Comics store on the top floor, which is likely a big part of the appeal to a high schooler.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Time for a field trip across the river to Cambridge! I haven't been to Harvard Square in ages, and I headed over last weekend to wander and see what was new.

This place, Cardullo's, is by no means new! Cardullo's is a family run business that opened in 1950 and has been named Best of Boston for neighborhood grocery and "The Greatest: Specialty Imports" by the Phantom Gourmet. I love Cardullo's because it's where you get the candy you can't find easily here in the US: Kinder chocolate, Violet Crumbles, Mars Bars, and the good Dairy Milk made in the UK. They also have a great deli, the largest tea selection in the Northeast, wines, and a plenty of other gourmet yumminess that I can't think of right now.

I'm sure that when most people think of Harvard Square they think of ivy covered brick walls, crowds of smarty pants students, "pahk ya cah in Hahvahd Yahd" and all that jazz...to me Harvard Square is somewhere with great shops, good dive restaurants, and the best hot chocolate in the state. Possibly the country. Over the next week (or so) I'll share with you the Harvard Square I know and love!

Friday, February 15, 2008

This is from the blizzard we got in January 2005. There was a LOT of snow - 3 feet total. Leyre's husband had to work overnight out of town, so she came over to my apartment to hang out with my roommates and I instead of getting snowed in all alone. The next day, we spent HOURS digging out our cars - four of us shoveling, and about 2-3 hours on each car. There was so much snow that we couldn't pile it any higher and we were carrying it on shovels across the street and into our front yard, which was piled well over Leyre's 6 foot tall head!

This is like where's Waldo, except it's a car that's hiding, not Waldo. So where is it? Click the photo to enlarge and look for the antenna on it's front hood!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Here's a blast from the past - I've been going through everything I shot on film before I got my digital camera a year ago, and I found this! What is it? It's a belt sander drag race, of course! Doesn't everyone do that??

This is actually from a few years back - 2006 I believe - and I highly recommend that you listen to the NPR's Only A Game story here. The Winter Nationals are run by the New England Belt Sander Racing Association, and are held at Kenyon Woodworking in Jamaica Plain every winter. If you want to get in on the action, they are usually held the first weekend in February (sorry, we're too late to catch them this year), and get there early because it gets PACKED and you'll have to fight your way through a crowd. It's really an amazing experience, you've really got to see this at least once in your life.

People supe up belt sanders and send them screaming down a two lane race track (and occasionally off the track, so make sure you stand behind the line of death they mark on the floor!) in a single elimination style tournament. Did I mention that they also do some pretty awesome decorations on these suped up belt sanders? Check out the Central Main Power Tool Racing Association's 2008 Race Report, complete with video clips.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

February 1st was National Wear Red Day, a part of Go Red For Women - raising awareness for heart disease among women. Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America - a fact I think is often over looked because of the attention given to other diseases (which are no less horrible!).

I found this display of support on the side of The Federal Reserve Bank and loved how it echoed the red from the South Station T entrance. Check out some other cities that went red here, and check back here tomorrow to see the Go Red projection that Maria found around town!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Dainty Dot Hosiery building is located at the corner of Kingston and Essex Streets, between Chinatown and the Leather District. It was planned and built in 1889-1890, and half of the building was lopped off in order to build the surface artery, leaving behind just 6 stories and 53,000 square feet. Just over a year ago, in November of 2006, the building was purchased by a developer who is supposedly planning on making the building into housing (Boston Globe article here).

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Friday, February 8, 2008

This mural is just outside the Chinatown Gate. It was painted by the Boston Youth Conservation Corps (BYCC), whose work I first saw along the Neponset River Greenway by my house in Dorchester. I could have sworn I had already posted pictures of those murals, but I guess not...I'll be sure to do that soon!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Unintentionally, I started this Chinatown series right before the Chinese New Year, and if I had planned better, I would have gone down to Chinatown this past weekend to get some photos of the New Years celebrations and Lion dancing to post for today. Next year I'll do that, I promise! Instead of Lions, today you get Beach Street - the "Main Street" of Chinatown. It's full of restaurants, shops with chicken and fish and crabs in the windows, and, of course, traffic!

The Chinese New Year is the most important of the Traditional Chinese Holidays, and celebrations last for 15 days. The Chinese calendar is a lunar one, with celebrations beginning on the second new moon of the winter solstice, and typically ending around the following full moon with a Lantern Festival. This year is the year of the Rat, and year 4705 by the Chinese Calendar. Wikipedia has a page that lists a lot of information about the festivities, food, and traditions of the Chinese New Year if you'd like to learn more.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Chinatown gate, located at the corner of Beach St and the Surface Road. Until recently, the area you see in front of this gate (where I was standing) was a complete mess - right next to a highway off ramp, run down, and dirty. With the completion of the Big Dig and now the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, the area is now a nice, open plaza that is certainly more welcoming than in the past.

Monday, February 4, 2008

I took a walk through Chinatown and shot a handful of pictures, so I wanted to share them here over the next few days. I've never really spent a lot of time in the neighborhood and I think I'll need to change that in the future!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Saturday, February 2, 2008

This is the FAO Schwarz bear, which used to be located in front of the FAO Schwarz store on Boylston Street. The store closed in 2004, and the bear now lives here, greeting visitors to The Floating Hospital for Children. The Floating Hospital is no longer floating, but is part of the Tufts-New England Medical Center located on Washington Street, just between Chinatown and the Theater District.

Friday, February 1, 2008

We, as a group, were contemplating what Boston is known for. I think that's easier for someone that hasn't grown up here to pinpoint, and there were a few suggestions: Fenway/Red Sox, clam chowder, lobsters. In the end, I made the executive decision to skip the seafood (bleah, gross!) and go with Fenway (woohoo!). The rationale was that you mention Fenway and everyone knows you're talking about Boston, but clam chowder and lobster are more regional things (Maine, Cape Cod).

This picture was taken by our friend Emma, who lives in Tucson, AZ, and was in Boston last summer for an internship. I got tickets in my company's box for the game on July 3rd and took her, much to the chagrin of my boyfriend! This is the view of the press boxes and the Fenway sign behind home plate from our seats. You can see a panoramic view from these same seats (taken at a different game - that I went to with my boyfriend so he wouldn't leave me!) here - click it to enlarge, and all of our other Red Sox/Fenway photos here.